Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence, the presumptive No. 1 overall pick in the 2020 draft, previously has said things that sparked speculation regarding whether he’d stay in school to avoid being drafted by the Jets. On Wednesday, he seemed to put any talk of trying to engineer his next NFL destination to bed when talking about his eventual ascension to the next level of the sport.
“I know some of the stuff I say sounds cliche, but just to have the opportunity to go somewhere, help someone rebuild if that’s what it is or whatever and just win, that’s what -- you know, something I love doing,” Lawrence told Dan Patrick. “I think that’s what I’m best at, is winning. Regardless of stats, whatever it is, that’s what I love. So, just to have that chance. Obviously, some places it’ll be more of a challenge than others. But I think I’m up for it, and that’ll get here when it’s here.”
Patrick asked whether this means Lawrence definitely is leaving school for the NFL draft.
“It’s likely,” Lawrence said. “I don’t want to completely shut any door.”
Patrick then pointed out that Lawrence, who has a year of eligibility remaining, participated in Senior Night. Lawrence said he did so because he’s on track to graduate early. He also noted that a pair of Senior Nights at Clemson isn’t unprecedented.
“Christian Wilkins did it twice, he ran down the hill twice,” Lawrence said. “Two year in a row, so you never know.”
It’s premature for Lawrence to try to avoid any NFL team, and it wouldn’t make sense to remain at Clemson and play college football for free simply to avoid the Jets. Lawrence would be better off, through his agents and/or intermediaries, making it known that he doesn’t want to play for the Jets -- with the threat not of staying at Clemson but sitting out the year and re-entering the draft in 2022.
The problem with that approach, of course, is that he’d be drafted in 2022 by next year’s version of the Jets.
Still, incoming franchise quarterbacks rarely make a power play. Those who have, John Elway and Eli Manning, are 2-0.
